10:01pm: Kelly is leaving Columbus for a historic coordinator sum. Because the team told candidates it was prepared to make a “serious” money infusion with help from its latest ownership pieces, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports Kelly will develop into the NFL’s highest-paid coordinator — on a salary of $6MM per 12 months. This price triples what Kelly was earning at Ohio State, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler adds.
An AAV higher than $5MM has not previously been mentioned for coordinators, because the Buccaneers were prepared to enterprise toward the $4.5MM-per-year number to retain Liam Coen. Kelly has been out of the NFL for the past eight seasons; his return will bring a surprising salary.
4:36pm: The Raiders are continuing so as to add to latest head coach Pete Carroll‘s staff, hiring longtime college and NFL coach Chip Kelly to be their next offensive coordinator, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Kelly recently won a national championship as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator after a six-year stint as UCLA’s head coach. His last NFL job was as head coach for the 49ers in 2016, though he lasted only one season after a 2-14 finish. Before that, he spent three years because the Eagles’ head coach.
Carroll appears to be prioritizing experience for his latest staff. He already retained defensive coordinator Patrick Graham and is now adding the 61-year-old Kelly, who’s entering his thirty fifth season as a coach between the NFL and college levels. Kelly also was closely tied to the Raiders last 12 months, when he interviewed twice to be Antonio Pierce‘s OC. Luke Getsy wound up with the job Kliff Kingsbury declined, but a Tom Brady-led housecleaning brought Kelly back into the Vegas mix.
The 2 veteran coaches have hung out as rivals, each within the Pac-12 and the NFC West. Kelly’s time at Oregon overlapped with Carroll’s tenure as USC’s head coach, and the 2 also coached against one another in 2016 when Carroll was the Seahawks’ head coach. The 49ers lost each games to the Seahawks in 2016, but Kelly’s Oregon squad upset Carroll’s No. 5 USC in 2009.
Kelly can have his work cut out for him in Las Vegas. The Raiders finished twenty seventh in points and twenty ninth in yards last season, due in no small part to an unstable quarterback situation and the midseason departure of Davante Adams. 2024 first-round pick Brock Bowers quickly established himself as certainly one of the league’s best tight ends, but the remaining of the Raiders offense lacks high-end talent.
Kelly’s first order of business can be finding a brand new quarterback. Gardner Minshew continues to be under contract for the 2025 season, but can be coming off a season-ending broken collarbone suffered in October. Even when healthy, though, Minshew struggled, making it clear that he isn’t the long run of the franchise. With the second-most cap space within the NFL in addition to the sixth overall pick in April’s draft, Las Vegas has the resources to substantially improve their quarterback situation this offseason.
Prior to this Kelly hire, it was looking like a Carroll-Darrell Bevell reunion was close. The Raiders had interviewed Carroll’s former Seahawks OC, and after an initial offering suggesting the veteran assistant was the lead candidate to find yourself as Las Vegas’ play-caller, a Saturday report didn’t disrupt that. Despite Kelly only being linked to the Jaguars and Texans on this 12 months’s cycle, he can have a giant opportunity to assist Carroll’s Raiders stabilization effort take shape. Bevell stays on the Dolphins’ staff as quarterbacks coach.
Although Kelly flamed out in Philadelphia after an eventful 2015 during which Jeffrey Lurie gave him personnel power by demoting GM Howie Roseman, he posted two winning seasons with the team prior to that seminal setback. The Eagles won the NFC East in 2013, and so they went 10-6 in 2014, doing so despite a season-ending Nick Foles injury. Kelly went 6-9 before being fired after Week 16 throughout the 2015 season. His immediate 49ers hire continued the NFC West franchise’s mid-2010s descent, and Kelly ended up at UCLA two years later.
OC interest formed for Kelly last 12 months, but he opted to go away a head coaching post — because the NIL and transfer portal components have wreaked havoc on the faculty game — for a coordinator gig in Columbus. That turned out to pay dividends, as Ohio State stormed back from a Michigan loss to shut the regular season en path to a national title.
Kelly’s move to the NFL from the Buckeyes can even stir speculation concerning the Raiders’ draft plans. Kelly will want to goal a few of his former players, especially on the offensive side of the ball. That list could include projected first-rounders offensive tackle Josh Simmons and wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, in addition to quarterback Will Howard and running backs TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins on Day 2. Kelly can have significantly more information and familiarity – together with a proven track record of success – with those players than some other NFL team.
With Kelly hired, the Raiders can now fill out the remaining of their offensive staff. He will want to bring some assistants with him from Ohio State, though a number of the current coaches in Las Vegas may very well be retained as well.
Sam Robinson contributed to this post.
